


Made for Each Other

by GoodJanet



Category: Mad Men
Genre: Codependency, F/M, Love Confessions, Running Away, Weddings
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-05-24
Updated: 2015-05-24
Packaged: 2018-04-01 03:34:30
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 1,066
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4004308
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/GoodJanet/pseuds/GoodJanet
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Don once told Peggy that if she left, he’d spend the rest of his life trying to hire her. Don takes that one step further.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> This is my first post- _Mad Men_ fic and was written exactly one week after the finale.

Don once told Peggy that if she left, he’d spend the rest of his life trying to hire her.

The memory runs through his head as he reads over the invitation in his hands. It’s off white in color and accented in purple. In neat script that he recognizes as Joan’s, Peggy has invited him to her wedding. The signature is in her handwriting, and seeing it makes his heart ache.

He puts the card down and decides to take a walk. There are too many thoughts and feelings stirred up, and staying inside alone, he knows, would be unwise.

Don’s happy for her. He really is. But he knows that Peggy would, of course, take her vows seriously. Peggy wouldn’t be marrying just for money or just because it was expected of her. He is very sure the man was properly vetted before being deemed worthy. And he’s proud of her for finding someone she finds worthy. She deserves that and a whole lot more.

But it means losing her. And that’s not something he can easily ignore. He’s seen her with Duck and Mike and Abe and Stan, and he’s honest enough with himself to admit that he hates losing her focus, her beautiful attention. He misses it being the two of them all the time, whether it be business or pleasure. He doesn’t want to share her with someone, especially someone he doesn’t know. And would her beau be able to care for her and love her like he would be able to do? 

It is then that he hatches what he’s sure will be a terrible, selfish idea, but one that he knows he’d never forgive himself if he didn’t try.

~*~*~*~*~*~*

When he reaches the church he turns down a different road from all the cars trying to cram into the small lot. There’s a small lot behind the chapel that Don assumes is reserved for hearses and the minster’s car. He hopes no one will mind if he waits here for everyone to settle before going off to find the bride.

He feels his heart pound as he passes by a group of kids in small tuxes and dresses kicking a soccer ball. Luckily their parents are too busy trying to prevent grass stains to notice that Don is heading off towards the doors that lead to the bridal chambers.

Don quietly opens the door, and his breath is instantly taken from him.

There is Peggy, standing in front of a huge gold-edged mirror in a lacy dress and long veil, looking for all the world like an angel. She is smiling wide, laughing that something her maid of honor whispered to her. Another woman hands her some lipstick, which she carefully dabbles on. She’s elegant, radiant, confident. She is everything Don has always known her to be but never had the decency to say something until it was too late.

Suddenly, she sees him standing the doorway in her mirror.

“Don?”

She had half-expected him not to come. She doesn’t remember him RSVP-ing, but she can’t say for sure. Don liked to come and go as he pleased.

“May we have a moment?” he asks the women.

They turn to Peggy, who nods, suspicious, for them to give them some privacy.

And then it’s just the two of them. He in his tux and she in her dress.

“You can’t marry him,” Don says.

He approaches her, cautious and gentle, shoes almost silent against the plush carpet.

Her eyes are wide. Like the first day he saw her. Wide and full of wonder. He wants to kiss her.

“Don…”

“Please. You can’t marry him.”

“But I love him,” she says.

“But I love _you_.”

Those were the words she wanted to hear from him years ago. And doesn't mean to cry, but the tears come anyway. He wipes them away, careful of her make-up. It takes every fiber of his being not to sweep her up into his arms and smear her lipstick with his mouth.

“Come with me,” he’d say. “I’m parked in the back. We can leave here. Together.”

It’s such a stupid idea. For a million reasons. It’s all backwards.

“Tell me you don’t want this,” Don says, voice low and serious. “Tell me, and I’ll leave.”

“Don, you can’t just do this to me. You can’t just barge in here on my wedding day and tell me you love me. You can't just make demands like that!”

“Peggy, you’re the only reason I’m here. You’re the only reason I’m trying to be good. I didn’t even know that was possible until I met you. I want to spend every day of my life proving to you that coming with me right now is the best decision you’ll make today.”

He holds out his hand, hoping and praying that she will take it.

She is hesitant, but then she comes to a decision. He notices her lip tremble, and her eyes stare into him like she can see his soul.

“Okay,” Peggy says in a small voice after a quiet moment. “Take me with you.”

Don smiles as she holds out a white-gloved hand.

He takes her by the hand, and they run out the back entrance to his waiting car.

Her heart pounds feircely in her chest, and she feels Don's tight grip. She knows that if he had it his way, he'd never let go.

When they get to the car, she doesn’t look back.


	2. AUTHOR'S NOTE

I just realized something while cleaning off my bookshelf. I have a bunch of books from my childhood that I refuse to part with. And there is one particular series that I have always loved:  _Betsy-Tacy_. It’s a story that follows the girls from childhood until early adulthood and marriage. 

Last night while writing this fic, I had a very clear image of Peggy standing in front of a gold-edged mirror in a lacy wedding dress. This normally wouldn’t seem all that special until I was cleaning some dust off the last book in the  _Betsy-Tacy_ series. This is the cover:

This is basically the exact image I described for Peggy, which is incredible considering I haven’t read this book in about ten years. But it just goes to show you that books really do stick with you, even if you don’t think that they have. It really is incredible.


End file.
